Live Free with Josh Howerton - From Rules to Relationship | Ep. 90 | Friday June 9, 2023

Episode Date: June 9, 2023

Pastor Mike wraps up this week’s series by sharing how a "Life with God" perspective is fulfilling and life-changing! God is compassionate, loving and desires to be with us. Today’s episode will challenge you to talk to God like a friend throughout the day and live your life with Him. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, welcome to the Daily Drive. My name is Mike, and we hang out here Monday through Friday, just trying to get to know God a little better,

and man, it is a worthy and deeply fulfilling pursuit. And we have been unpacking some different ways that people relate to God. And I don't know about you, but I've seen the peace of myself in every one of these. We've talked about that posture of life under God, this very unhealthy, fear-based way of going through life hoping you don't tick him off,

a whole lot of insecurity and shame wrapped up and thinking that God is on its authoritative ego trip, and just waiting, even hoping to just throw down on you. Then there's the posture of life over God. It's where we either deny his existence or seek to take his place at the top of the org chart. It's when self rules the day, and we go through life trying to grab control of our life.

Then we talked about life from God, where we act like God as our personal concierge, our divine vending machine. Whatever we want, he's supposed to apply. Our wish is his command. it's a lifestyle of entitlement and disappointment. Then there's life for God, where we can get so passionate about something,

we can get so consumed with trying to make a difference by working for God that the mission actually takes the place of God. And we end up devoted to our cause much more than we are devoted to him, and a whole lot of performance anxiety comes with that lifestyle. And we've got these different ways of relating to God from a book by Sky Jahani called With,

and the premise is this. All God has ever wanted for us is to do life not under, over, from, or for, but just with Him. I mean, if you go all the way back, in the first book of the Bible, Genesis talked about how God created men and woman and walked with them.

That was his desire from the very beginning. In fact, it says in Ephesians chapter 1, long before he even lay down earth's foundations, he had us in mind. It settled on us as the focus of his love to be made whole and holy by His life, love. We were created in his image so that we might live in relationship with him as the focus of his love. And God's original tent for us to live with him is also in display in the closing chapters of the Bible

in Revelation where John writes this. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people and he will dwell with them. They will be his people. and God himself will be with them and be their God. From start to finish, from Genesis to Revelation, we were made to do life with God, not under, not over, not from, not for, but with. And I'm telling you, with changes everything. And maybe you're kind of new to all this,

and maybe you're thinking, yeah, well, I hear you, man, but I'm not sure that God will want to do life with me. I have a friend who has been sober a long time now, and he's sponsored and helped all kinds of things. people. They would talk about how he had meet new guys in the recovery program, and they would say, he'd start talking about God, and they would say, there is no, you know, blanking way I would turn my life over to God. He'd ruin it, and I'd probably deserve it. And then he would help them unpack their perception of this loveless, demanding, judgmental kind of God. My friend would tell

him, you know what, you ought to fire that God of yours. You've got the wrong God for recovery, because the God who operates here is loving, kind, encouraging, strong, forgiving, honest, and will always be there for you? Man, I had a God like yours when I first came in here, but I had to fire him and get a new God. Now, please don't misunderstand me. There is only one God. It's just that the God many of us perceive is not the true and living God.

We need to fire our misperceptions of God. I had to fire my old God. I had to unlearn some stuff about him and learn about his true character. And that's why I study the life of Jesus. I've said it so many times, it's helped me so much, because I believe that Jesus came not only to lay down his life for our sin, but to also show us what God is really like. And I learned that God is love, that God is a God who embraces outcast and fights for the underdog

and shows up in the middle of the mess, and he touches untouchables and he mends the broken. And I discovered that he really likes people like me. He really wants to do life with screw-ups like me. It was eye-opening from me reading about Jesus and the way he interacted with people like me. And I would encourage you to read what are known as a gospel just means the good news. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, first four books of the New Testament. Maybe just start with John and get to know Jesus better. It was just life-changing for me.

Still is life-changing for me. And some of these scriptures also help me and maybe want to know God and be with him. And this is just a mere sampling, but check him out. Psalm 56, verse 8. You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. Man, that shows me.

He's not disinterested. He cares deeply. Psalm 103, verse 13, The Lord is like a father to his children. Tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are. He remembers. We're only dust.

He created us so he knows better than anybody else. He's compassionate toward our weaknesses. Psalm 32. Unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord. Man, there's only one place to get 100% unfailing love, and that is with him. Psalm 130, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord, there is unfailing love and this overflowing supply of salvation. He longs to be with us. 1st Peter, chapter 5, verse 7, cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

He says, you can give all that stuff to me. I can handle it. Plus, I want to. Hebrews 13.5, don't love money, but be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, I will never fail you. I will never abandon you. He is not an absentee, Father. Isaiah 43, verse 2, when you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown.

When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up. The flames will not consume you. I will be with you. In his famous song about God being a shepherd, David writes this, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for you are with me. And if I know these things about him to be true, if I know I'm eternally safe in the care of a good, good shepherd, a good, good father, I'm set free from the cycle of fear, appease, control,

fail, shame, fear appease control. I am free to enjoy the present instead of worrying about the future. I'm free to forgive others rather than retaliation. or hold on the grudges, I'm free to give rather than hoard. Am I search for acceptance? My search for security and significance? Man, it's over. And it all starts in knowing that God just wants to be with me.

And what's so incredible about God is that he made the first move to restore the relationship that we had broken, and it's no surprise that when God desired to mend her relationship, he sent his son, Jesus, who was called Emmanuel, which means God. with us. His plan to restore his creation was not to send a list of demanding rules and rituals to follow, nor was it this implementation of some effective and useful principles for a successful life that allow you and me to be our own God. He did not send the genie to grant us our every wish, nor did he give us a task to accomplish so that we could prove ourselves to him. Instead, God himself

came to be with us. To once again walk with us, work with us, talk with us, laugh with us, cry with us, do life with us, oh, when I think about my God, who made the stars and named them, who took earth and see and framed them, pulled back ocean tides, restrained them, breathed life into his own and claim them. When I think about my God, who before he gave the wind direction, before he assigned the moon's reflection, before he painted the leaves complexion, it settled. on us as his main affection.

Who despite our rebellion pursued us, though sin skewed us, he viewed us, priceless, chose not to exclude us or let grace elude us, but instead came to us. Now sin cannot choke us, crushes, or beat us. Shame will I conquer, condemn, or defeat us. We are alive because he is alive. We rise up because he is risen. We know love because he first loved us. Listen to me, you can know God.

instead of life under, over, from, or four, you can do life with him. You can walk each day in the awareness of his 24-7 presence in your life. Scripture tells us that he's not only with us everywhere we go, but the Holy Spirit of God takes up residence in us. You can talk to him like a friend constantly all day long. You can lean into him as a loving father. You can know he's going to work with you. You can know he's walking down the halls of school, riding the bus,

going to practice with you. You can know that he's sitting in an ICU waiting room with you. You can know he's walking the road to recovery with you one day at a time. You can follow his wisdom down better past as he leads you through his word and his spirit. You can know and experience his love and find your worth and identity in what he says about you. You can walk in freedom, peace, and hope. Doing life with him changes everything. And he invites you into this life.

with him. You know, if you never have, maybe just right now, wherever you're at, just a simple prayer in your heart and humility to say, God, I want to come home. I want to do life with you. And Jesus, I believe you made a way for that to happen, and I want to accept your incredible sacrifice as the forgiveness for my many sins. And I just want to say thank you. And I trust you. And I want to let you lead my life every day as we do this life together. Now, I want to encourage you. Talk to God in your own words, nothing fancy, nothing scripted, just the real you with the real God. You're the one he loves, and he's not far. He's near.

He is with us. Live in that reality today. See you back next time. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out. For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.combe.